


the guy with the rainbow frog socks

by speckledfeathers



Series: Gotta Hand It To Ya (Reddie AU) [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Broken Bones, Chance Meetings, Eddie Kaspbrak is a Little Shit, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier-centric, Flirting, Injury, M/M, Richie Tozier Flirts, but this is their first interaction, so it's a fun read!!, this is for an AU i am going to be doing on twitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:35:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29302815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speckledfeathers/pseuds/speckledfeathers
Summary: Dark eyes glared at the other man as he laughed and wiped away a few tears with his fingers underneath his glasses. “Sorry, the blood loss is making me a bit bold tonight.”“You barely lost any.” Eddie scoffed. “Plus, I have a feeling you’re like this all the time.”“Yeah? What tipped you off?”“Everything. Literally everything about you tipped me off.”The Annoyance sighed happily. “Mmm. I feel so known.”
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Gotta Hand It To Ya (Reddie AU) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2152281
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	the guy with the rainbow frog socks

**Author's Note:**

> cw // minor mention of blood, minor nsfw talk
> 
> this is for an smau i am running on twitter!! go check it out @handittoyou_au
> 
> enjoy these two dumbasses

Eddie could hear that little voice in the back of his mind trying to chime in— _Why the fuck did you do this? How did you end up here? Should you rethink your life choices?_

And instead of answering that voice or thinking those questions through, Eddie simply leaned his head back so that it met with the wall with a quiet _thunk._ The ice pack against his hand was starting to freeze his skin, even with the towel for extra protection, so he adjusted it to see if that would help. He let out a hiss as the weight of it settled back down. _Shit._ Yeah, he definitely had some broken bones. 

The waiting room was quiet and empty, something he had been extremely grateful for when he arrived. The only explaining he was forced into so far was with the lady at the check-in, and then he slunk over to a chair in the corner to hide away and wait. The TV a few feet away was on mute, and there was no music playing. So it was just Eddie and his pain, and he tried to close his eyes and breathe through it as it radiated up his arm.

“Well shit, it looks like you’ve got it worse than I do.”

In another fit of bad luck, the peace of his solitude was quickly snatched from him. The few minutes of uncomfortable ice pack adjusting and quiet seething had been nice while it lasted, but it seemed that all good things came to an end. His little bubble was popped by a voice that suddenly appeared and made him jump. Eddie hissed again when both of his arms jerked in surprise, and then his eyes snapped open.

As he looked to the intruder, he flopped himself dramatically into a chair directly across from him. Eddie glared at him, not saying a word.

“I drove myself here even with this.” The intruder lifted his hand, which was also wrapped in a towel, and Eddie could see it splotched with a few patches of blood. “But you’ve got an ice pack so.. broken bones maybe? Am I right?”

Eddie had already been seething. But now this idiot was talking to him for some ungodly reason and a whole new layer of rage brewed itself to the surface. By some miracle, he was managing to keep his mouth shut and instead was focusing his attention on the uncoordinated, glasses-wearing annoyance in front of him. He was tall and broad, legs bowed and then crossed over each other at the ankles where Eddie was horrified to see socks covered in rainbow colored frogs and sandals. The top half of the outfit was quite boring in comparison— a simple black t-shirt with the word UPDOG in white across the chest.

Eddie fucking hated it.

But then the guy smiled again and used his free hand to push his glasses back up his nose. “Okay, would you rather I tell my story first? I’m game.” He adjusted in his seat and his messy hair moved with him. 

Eddie tried not to look, and failed. Then he overcompensated by moving his gaze down to the guy’s exposed legs and horrible socks.

The Annoyance cleared his throat. “Excuse me, eyes are up here.” He only continued when Eddie gave in and looked back up. “It’s a pretty simple story actually— I was having a lovely night to myself and I got a little too rough and tumble.” He was definitely insinuating something with the words, and he made it obvious with a few eyebrow wiggles and a light jerking motion with his uninjured hand.

That was the last straw. _“Oh, fuck you dude.”_

“He speaks!” The Annoyance leaned forward in his chair, beaming with pride that he was able to get Eddie to reply.

Eddie wanted to slap the smile right off his dumb face. “You’re telling me that your hand is bleeding because you jerked yourself off too hard? You expect me to fucking believe that? Ever heard of lube?”

“Lube? Oh yeah, course. It’s gonna be real helpful when we try to get that stick out of your ass, buckaroo.”

“Are you— why the fuck would I need lube to get it _out_ of my ass? Applying it before it goes in there would be the only time I need it!”

“So you’re saying there is actually a stick up your ass?”

“Fuck you.”

Dark eyes glared at the other man as he laughed and wiped away a few tears with his fingers underneath his glasses. “Sorry, the blood loss is making me a bit bold tonight.”

“You barely lost any.” Eddie scoffed. “Plus, I have a feeling you’re like this all the time.”

“Yeah? What tipped you off?”

“Everything. Literally everything about you tipped me off.”

The Annoyance sighed happily. “Mmm. I feel so known.”

And then, in a moment of weakness, Eddie’s curiosity got the best of him. “What _really_ happened to you?”

“I thought you’d never ask! So you know those cool little avocado slicing tools?”

“Aren’t they made of plastic?”

“Uh yeah. But I don’t quite see how that’s relevant?”

“How the fuck did you hurt yourself so bad on something like that?” Eddie hated that he was engaging in this conversation. He hated that The Annoyance was wearing those socks and that shirt. But what he hated most was that this conversation was extremely entertaining.

The Annoyance inched forward in his seat and reached his legs out so that they were almost touching Eddie’s, and Eddie wondered if that was on purpose or not. “I am a man of many talents.”

Without realizing it, Eddie had mostly forgotten about the swollen mess of a hand that was sitting in his lap and was now completely entranced by the man across from him. However, it was Rule Number One in his mind that he never let the idiot with the rainbow frog socks know that.

Eddie laughed softly and shook his head. “You sound fucking stupid. But I admire your honesty.”

“Name’s Richie, if you were wondering.” _Ah, so The Annoyance had a name._ “And if you don’t tell me yours soon, I’m gonna start guessing. And they’re all going to be terrible.”

“Oh please do.” Eddie unconsciously moved a few inches forward in his seat. “Because I’m definitely not telling you my name.”

“Steve? Carl? Finley?” Richie jumped right into it without a moment of hesitation— three names that were all hilarious and extremely wrong.

Eddie shook his head, wincing as he felt a sharp wave of pain hit his wrist.

“Max?”

“What am I, a dog?”

“Depends— do you like being called a good boy?”

There were a few things on the tip of Eddie’s tongue, but he never got the chance to say any of them before Bev flung open the doors to the building and waltzed in.

“I’m back.” She took a sip of her newly acquired drink and then flopped into the seat next to Eddie, practically draping herself across it so she could place her head gently on Eddie’s shoulder. “Who’s this?”

After realizing his mouth had been hanging open, Eddie slammed it shut. Though that did nothing to soften the pink warming his cheeks.

“Richie.” Finally, The Annoyance answered her.

“Bev.” She lifted her drink up as a greeting, then completely ignored him. “I thought they would have taken you back for x-rays already.”

“So you _did_ break something!” An excited finger was now being pointed at Eddie’s face.

Eddie half-heartedly batted it away.

Bev scoffed. “Yeah, did he tell you how he did it?”

“No.”

“Bev, please—”

“He punched a wall.”

Four words. That’s all it took for Richie to burst out laughing, and for Eddie to feel so embarrassed that he wanted to bury himself in the dirt for five years.

He thought his cheeks had been burning before, but now they were bright red and his brows were knotted together so strongly that his dark eyes could barely be seen underneath them. “Fuck you, Bev.”

She beamed at Richie as he laughed and then gave Eddie a pat on the shoulder. “Oh c’mon Eddie, it’s hilarious!”

“I was dared, okay! I was dared to do it!”

“What?” Richie was catching his breath, but his laughing started back up again after being told this new piece of information. “You were dared to punch a wall and you actually did it? Why?”

“Fuck you, that’s why.”

“Eds, if you keep saying that to me you’re gonna give me some interesting dreams tonight.”

“Excuse me, what the fuck is that nickname—”

Bev tried to interrupt. “He has this thing where if someone says he can’t do something, he’ll do anything to prove them wrong.” 

And she failed.

“Eds. It’s short for Eddie.”

“Eddie is already a nickname, dipshit.”

“How was I supposed to know that you have a full name? You wouldn’t tell me. What is it? Eduardo? Edison?”

“It’s Edward.”

“Boring.”

“Edward?” The nurse, however, was able to get their attention. “Which one of you is Edward?”

All three of them turned to look at the woman who called his name. Then Eddie stood up and began walking. “That’s me.”

“Before you go—” Richie called over his shoulder. “Can I ask you something, Eds?”

With a huff of frustration, Eddie stopped in his tracks and rolled his eyes so strongly he was afraid they would roll right out of his skull. He silently apologized to the nurse and then turned around.

“I thought this went really well. When can I see you again?” Richie smiled, almost sweet enough to hide the devious intentions Eddie knew were there, and batted his eyelashes over his bright blue eyes. Eddie hated it. It made his stomach twist into knots and he dry swallowed, feeling anxious.

Eddie said nothing, and gave Richie the finger with the hand holding his ice pack. The problem was that he wanted to see Richie again, but the bigger problem was that Eddie was terrified. Right now, he only had enough sanity to keep himself held together through all the anxiety of getting his hand patched up, and didn’t have any reserves left to think a few steps ahead about the cute guy pestering him in the lobby.

Richie blew him a kiss and winked. Bev let out a hearty laugh. And Eddie..

Well, Eddie would have plenty of stuff to think about and distract him during his x-rays.

**Author's Note:**

> just a reminder: this story will continue on twitter @handittoyou_au


End file.
